1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera, and more particularly, relates to an electronic camera with a film recorder for converting an optical image into an electric signal by using an image-pickup device and for recording image information on a photographic film based on resulting image-pickup data.
2. Description of Related Art Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-104736 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-194246 discloses a camera (complex camera) having both of an electronic image-pickup apparatus for picking up an object image by using an image-pickup device such as a CCD and a silver halide film photographic apparatus for optically recording an object image on a silver halide film. Such a complex camera displays an image picked up by an image-pickup device on a monitor (electronic view finder or the like), and on the other hand, it generates by exposure an object image put in from a photographic lens directly on a silver halide film.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-129232 discloses a film recorder in which a light emitting device of a light emitting part is controlled based on a video signal to generate an image of the video signal on a photographic film, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-1858 discloses a printer in which a video image is printed on a color film by a printer head having a fluorescent light emitting tube and an RGB three color switching filter.
Furthermore, in Japanese Patent Application No. 10-127117, the present applicant has proposed a digital still camera with a built-in optical filter for giving exposure to an instant film.
However, conventional complex cameras cannot generate an electrically picked up image on a photographic film. Furthermore, in the case of a camera for recording an electrically picked up image on an instant film, the instant film has a shape of a fixed form, and therefore, there is no degree of freedom in print size, and the printing of a plurality of sheets of printing (additional printing) is expensive.
The present invention is made in view of such a situation, and it is an object to provide a camera in which an electronically picked up image is generated on a silver halide film photographic film and higher degree of freedom in print size and cost down of additional printing can be attained.
In order to attain the above described object, the present invention is directed to a camera comprising: an image sensor which picks up an object image and outputs an image-pickup signal; a storage device which stores image data; an optical printer which exposes a photographic film based on image data read out of the storage device, and which records an image on the photographic film; and a carrying device which carries the photographic film.
The image-pickup signal outputted from the image sensor is converted into image data through a given signal processing. This image data can be stored in a storage device. Based on the image data read out of the above described storage device, an optical printer is driven and controlled, and by the light emitted by the optical printer, an image is recorded on a photographic film (hereafter, recording of information on a photographic film by an optical printer is called xe2x80x9cprintingxe2x80x9d). The carrying device carries a photographic film at the time of printing by an optical printer or after the finish of printing.
According to the present invention, an electronically picked up image can be exposed on a photographic film through an image sensor, and higher degree of freedom in print size and the cost down of the additional printing can be attained. The optical printer is made of an optical head having a light emitting part and a driving device which gives relative speed to the above described optical head and photographic film, but the film carrying device can also serve as the driving device.
The storage device may be an external memory that is removably attached to the camera body, and it is also possible to be a memory contained in the camera. When using an external memory, it is possible to print an image obtained by an image-pickup device other than the above described camera, and the image, drawing, and document or the like edited with a personal computer or the like on a photographic film by the above described camera.
It is possible to use a silver halide roll film wound up and contained in a shielding container in the form of a roll such as a 35 mm film or a 24 mm film, as the photographic film. In the case of a camera using a roll film, an embodiment is preferable, which is configured so that the image recording length can be changed as for the longitudinal direction of the film. According to such an embodiment, a panorama picture or the like can also be recorded with free length.
Furthermore, an embodiment is also preferable, which is configured so that additional information can be recorded in an area between frames of a roll film by using the above described optical printer. Not only character information such as the date and time of photographing or the conditions of photographing but also a pattern and a banner image or the like may be additional information. Furthermore, in the case where additional information is recorded between frames of a film, an embodiment is preferable, which has an additional function of changing the distance between frames according to the amount of information thereof.
There is an embodiment to which a line printer having a line head made by arranging light emitting parts linearly in one line or a plurality of lines along the main scanning direction at the time of printing is applied as the above described optical printer. In this case, printing with a higher resolution becomes possible by adding a moving device (main scanning direction moving device) which moves the above described line head in the main scanning direction.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the above described optical printer to be mounted on a camera is made of a white light source and a color separation filter. In such an embodiment, furthermore, there is an embodiment that has an additional mechanism for moving the above described color separation filter in the carrying direction of the photographic film, and moves the color separation filter relative to the head by the above described mechanism to perform the switching of the filter.
It is possible to apply an optical printer having a print head made of a light emitting device and a refraction factor distribution type lens array (selfock lens array) as one embodiment of the optical printer.
In the camera of the present invention, there is an embodiment that has an additional control part for controlling the above described film carrying device, so that it may keep track of the remaining film length of the above described photographic film, and that it may rewind the film in the case where the remaining film length is shorter than a give length. Furthermore, in the camera of the present invention, there is an embodiment that has an additional communication device and is configured so that it may perform transmission and reception of data with an external apparatus. Furthermore, in the camera of the present invention, an embodiment is also preferable, which has an additional exposure compensation instructing device and is configured so that the exposure compensation may be effective at least in one case among the time of photographing, the time of writing of image data in the above described storage device, and the time of recording on the above described photographic film.
Furthermore, a camera according to another embodiment of the present invention further comprises an information acquiring device which acquires sensitivity information of a photographic film and an exposure adjusting device which adjusts the exposure by the above described optical printer according to the sensitivity information obtained by the above described information acquiring device.